Kahne, Busch - Dodge Richmond test 2006-04-11

Teams began testing at Richmond on Tuesday and will test from 9 a.m.-9
p.m. Testing runs through Thursday, but teams are allowed to test only
two days in the three-day session.
Kahne and Busch won the two most recent races at RIR. Kahne scored...

Teams began testing at Richmond on Tuesday and will test from 9 a.m.-9
p.m. Testing runs through Thursday, but teams are allowed to test only
two days in the three-day session.

Kahne and Busch won the two most recent races at RIR. Kahne scored his
first career victory in last year's spring race at Richmond, while
Busch won race No. 26 last year at the D-shaped .750-mile track. Busch is
also the defending champion of the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix
International Raceway, the next stop for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit on
April 22.

Kahne ranks third in the series standings following his second win of the
season last Sunday. He's tied with Mark Martin, 46 points behind
leader Jimmie Johnson. Kahne was 23rd in the standings at the same stage
of the 2005 campaign.

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

"We're trying to get ready to come back. This is always a
great race for the fans and the drivers enjoy it, too. It's a lot
of fun. The track gets to where you can race pretty hard. We're
just trying to get our car as good as we can. We've got a couple of
days here where we can do that. We'll probably learn more in the
afternoon and tonight being that's when we'll be racing.
Hopefully we can take some of this and bring it back to the race. We
haven't run that well this morning, but we still have a lot of time
to go. This was my first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup win, and it was a great night
for us. We battled with Tony and Kurt Busch and had a great Dodge
Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger and I enjoyed racing out there."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ALREADY BE LOCKED IN THE CHASE BEFORE THE 26TH RACE AT
RICHMOND? "I think it would be great if we could be in that spot
where we didn't have to worry about this race, but if it is a race
we need to worry about to get in that top 10, it is a good track for us.
It's nice to be able to test here. It'll help us for the
first race and the second race. Right now we've been running good.
We've had some great runs this season, and we're doing a good
job in the points, too. We just need to keep that up and hopefully we
won't have to worry so much about the second race here like we have
in the past and just trying to get into that final 10."

IS THE 26TH RACE ONE OF THE KEY RACES OF THE SEASON? "I think
it's a race that's good. It depends on where you are. The
Daytona 500 and Brickyard are such big races. I remember in 2004 we had a
shot at making the final 10. I think we went into the (Richmond) race
11th and could have easily made the top 10 if we had run better. We
finished 26th and didn't make it. Jamie McMurray was right there.
Mayfield ended up making it. It was close. That brings a lot of
attention, and it makes for a fun race. Everybody gets pretty nervous at
that point in time. It's that time of the year, and hopefully we
can prepare and get in that final 10."

IS PATIENCE THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS THIS SEASON? "So far
I've been able to do that. I've had much better racecars. Our
Dodge Chargers have been handling a lot better. It takes a lot of work to
get the Charger to where it needs to be in order to run with the other
manufacturers each week and the top teams. I think Evernham Motorsports
has done the best job of all with the Chargers so far. Those guys have
really worked hard. Scott Riggs was just as fast as I was at times last
week at Texas. Jeremy is right there, too. They've just been having
some deals there they've got to work out with the team and getting
everybody on the same page. Once they do that, I think Evernham
Motorsports is going to be just as good as any other team, that's
what I'm hoping anyway.

"Last year when you're running 20th, you want to get up
front. You want to get in the top 15. You want to get points, and your
car is capable of running 20th. Sometimes I was going overboard and not
getting the results we needed. At the same time, it's tough when
you're that far back. You want to do anything you can to get
another position and not finish out of the top 20. This year our cars
have been great. Our practices have been better. We've been running
toward the front. You don't have to force it. You don't have
to push the issue. We had some close calls at Texas. It's just give
and take at times and get 'em later on. Wait for three laps and
then pass the car. I'm doing a better job, and I'm also
getting equipment that's faster, so it's easier to do when
you're in that position."

CAN YOU APPLY WHAT YOU LEARN HERE TODAY TO THE NIGHT RACE? "I think
it'll be pretty close. The track to me felt really similar to how
it felt two weeks ago in the Busch car. We'll have some practice at
night, too. Most of the time at night, the track tightens up a little
bit, so if you can have your car a little bit free as long as it's
turning good it's just as good at night, maybe better. The good
thing about this test as long as it is, we'll get to see what the
car does at night. I imagine it'll be the same as it's been
the past two or three years."

CAN YOU TRANSFER WHAT YOU LEARN HERE TO OTHER TRACKS? "It's
tough to take much from here to the other ones. We won here last year and
at Phoenix we were terrible. I don't even know if we made it in the
top 20 there and finish the race. Those would be the two I would think
would compare the most for size and speed. It didn't work. I guess
some tracks are their own track and you have to figure out how to get
around each track differently."

WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? "Actually yesterday, I had some
stuff to do in the morning, a couple of meetings, and after that I hung
out at the sprint car shop with the guys that work on that car. We ended
up out on the lake about four o'clock wake boarding. I'm a
little bit sore today. I haven't wake boarded in four or five
months."

DID YOU FIND SOMETHING WITH THE CHARGER? "I really don't know
how to answer that. I think we found something. I think our bodies are
better. I think there are some things that are better. I don't
think what we found made the difference that it's made so far this
season. I think that's been more of the team I'm working
with. I think the information Evernham Motorsports is getting is getting
better from the three teams working together. Myself and Scott Riggs have
been running similar setups, and they're fast. I think it just has
a lot to do with the setups, and it just took us awhile to figure out
what setup would work best for me."

HAVE YOU GONE FROM A GUY WHO CAN WIN TO A GUY WHO CAN WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP?
"I don't know about that. I certainly hope so. That's
what we shoot for. That's why we do this, to win races and
ultimately win a championship. I think I'm getting that experience
and would hope some day I'm in position to do that. Right now I
feel like winning races would be great and just keep the points rolling.
If we can do that and get in these final 10 races you never know what
will happen. I'd be pretty excited if we get in because I think we
can run good on a lot of those (final 10) racetracks."

YOU WON BOTH RACES THIS SEASON IN THE SAME CHARGER. YOU ALSO WON THE POLE
FOR THOSE TWO RACES. IS THERE SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT THAT CAR? "It
felt good at Atlanta and Texas. It's two for two (poles) and two
for two (race wins). It was brand new at Atlanta, and everything has been
perfect with the car the way it handles. Everything has been great. Our
Vegas car was good, too. We finished fourth there. We were kind of on the
verge of running a little better than that. The only car that I thought
wasn't as good is the California car. We haven't run that one
since, but the Vegas car and the Atlanta and Texas car are similar.
I'm hoping we can run it (winning Charger) at the All-Star Race or
the 600 or maybe both if it can make it through. I think that's the
next banked track. I imagine at least one of those weekends we'll
be back in that car."

***

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

"I heard this morning that we're going to be here until 9
o'clock tonight, so I wish I had got more sleep last night.
It's great to have a chance to practice under the lights,
especially when both of our races are here at night. It's been a
great season so far for us with communication with the new team.
We're running well on the speedways and the short tracks. We know
we've got some work to do on the mile and a half intermediate
tracks. It's a good thing and a bad thing that we're testing
here today at Richmond. It's good we can polish up with my new team
and get our short track program a little better. It's bad because
all the other teams get time to test at this racetrack where I felt I had
a little bit of an advantage. Everybody is going to catch up after this
time around. Good start so far, but we're not quite where we want
to be in points, so we'll keep working at it."

COMMENT ON 17TH RANKING IN STANDINGS AFTER SEVEN RACES "It's
just the beginning of April, seven races in, so it's still real
tight in points. We were just knocking on the door for the top 10 and
with one bad race we drop all the way back to 17th. If we have a couple
of good races in a row, that will put us right back in position to be
steadily right there and ready for the top 10. There's a long way
to go. Once you get to June 1 and start running into the summer months of
Dover and Pocono and Michigan, that's when we'll worry about
where we are in the points. We still have plenty of time to go until
that."

HAVE YOU TALKED TO GREG BIFFLE ABOUT THE TEXAS SITUATION? "I tried
to reach out for him and left a message on his phone. I'm sure
I'll see him this afternoon. Biffle and I are both very competitive
racers, and we both look for the same real estate at the same time, yet I
was trying to yield as a lapped car out on the track. Things like that
happen and we'll definitely try to smooth everything out and move
on to the next race."

WHAT IS ONE OF THE UNWRITTEN RULES ON THE TRACK? "I would say there
are probably 100 different unwritten rules as far as driver etiquette and
to giving somebody a break or to go into your pit stall deep so as not to
block somebody in when he's trying to get out whether he's on
the lead lap and you're running for 30th place and you've got
a pit box in front of him. There are things you do out on the track when
you've got a faster car and you come up on somebody some of the
times they yield out of the way or some of the time they race you for
that position. It depends on what mood you're in or if you've
made The Chase or if it's race seven or race 26 or if it's
the last few laps at Homestead like Jimmie, Jeff and I had in 2004. It
was pretty intense."

HAS THE LAST THREE WEEKS BEEN MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF YOUR PREVIOUS
RELATIONSHIP WITH KENSETH AND BIFFLE? "It has and it hasn't.
I can't say that racing has changed my outlook because I'm
racing with a different team. I still try to race any competitor as if
they're the same guy whether they're new on the circuit or
old on the circuit. Racing for the win at Bristol is something
that's very special when it's the last 10 laps. If
you're a lap down car trying to get out of the way of the fast
leader at Texas, no matter who it is, an accident happened and I feel bad
about it. As for old teammates, we definitely had great times together.
Biffle and I grew up running trucks together. When I moved into Cup he
shortly followed. It's a great relationship and not just one race
will tear it apart."

WHY TEST AT RICHMOND? "I think the vision NASCAR has is to make the
26th race more competitive. That's why we're here testing at
Richmond. That's the cutoff for The Chase. They want to make it an
equal opportunity for everybody when it comes down to the wire whether
you're in or out. There are no excuses. You had a full two-day test
to get ready for it. Some teams needed to test and some don't need
a test at a short track. I'd much rather be at Texas today, trying
to figure out what we did wrong with our car because right now
we're behind on the mile and a half tracks. It's fun to test
at night because we race at night."